Chris Jackins is a regular at most Seattle School Board meetings, easily spotted scribbling down notes on a yellow legal pad in his plaid, flannel shirt among district officials in ties and parents in business suits just off from work.

With no children of his own in the public schools, it hasn't stopped Jackins from dedicating much of his own time to scrutinizing district policy. He's become an ever-present critic of School Board and administrative actions, such as closing schools and changes to the school funding formula.

Now a West Seattle resident, Jackins grew up in Ballard, attending Daniel Webster Elementary School (current home of the Nordic Heritage Museum), Salmon Bay Middle School and graduating from Ballard High.

He said he has an affinity for Seattle Public schools, having been a part of them his whole life. He believes he received a good education but thinks the district is moving too far from traditional education values that helped shape him.

While he is firm and confident in his opinions, he's still approachable and genteel, usually speaking his mind, calmly and methodically at public meetings. But that doesn't downsize a growing list of concerns compiled during his last 10 years of activism.

It started in the mid-1990s when voters were asked to approve the Building Excellence I capital levy program that would renovate or rebuild 19 school buildings.

Included was a plan to replace Ballard High, a four-building campus built in the early 1900s, with a new two-story facility. There was substantial community opposition and Jackins gathered more than 1,000 signatures to save the old school, though it was eventually rebuilt.

That experience fueled his interest in district policy and a led to future campaigns against the closing, selling or tearing down of school buildings.

"The purpose is not to get the biggest pile of money, it's to serve the students," said Jackins, coordinator of The Committee to Save Our Schools, a group that formed to stop the demolition of Ballard High.

"The district tears down and sells buildings where people have spent their youth, raised their kids and attended community events as if those connections have no value," he said. "It's absolutely horribly wrong."

District buildings up for sale, such as Webster and Crown Hill, should be kept for future use. He called the already over budget shared Denny Middle School and Sealth High campus "an experimental education project" that needs more analysis.

The district is more often operating on a "private sector philosophy" geared toward standardization for profit rather than education, he said.

"But that isn't the purpose of the schools," said Jackins. "School's are not a string of fast food restaurants."

One example Jackins cited is the district's proposal to change the school-funding model to a "Weighted Staffing Standard" formula.

The new program is based on differentiated weighting according to the size of a school, so the larger a student body the more staff and resources a school receives. Jackins said it sets up schools for competition rather than cooperation.

"The district should allocate resources to establish a good program, regardless of shifts in enrollment," he said.

The School Board and new superintendent, Maria Goodloe-Johnson, are working toward creating a standard curriculum for pre-kindergarten-through-12th-grade, but Jackins thinks that approach ignores individuality.

"If all the widgets are the same and all the widget machines are the same, it's easier to pull levers and certify and speed up production, but students are not widgets and teachers are not widget machines. "I have some faith in teachers and students to come up with their own ways of teaching and learning things."

District spokeswoman Patti Spencer said the district's efforts to align curriculum is based on national best practices and that there are few public school systems as "decentralized as Seattle." She also said there's a difference between curriculum and instruction.

The idea is to make sure common material is covered across the grade levels, but "it doesn't prohibit creative teaching," said Spencer.

In order to gain public support to close schools, Jackins maintains the district has "cooked the books." It advertised a projected multi-million dollar budget deficit, but instead walked away with its fiscal year in the black, Jackins said.

He doesn't think the district will save enough money "to make any real difference" from its decision last year to shutter seven school buildings. The Committee to Save Our Schools is involved in a pending lawsuit against the district to overturn the closures.

"Having neighborhood schools is a good thing and is important to neighborhoods all over the city," said Jackins. "If you close outlets it encourages customers to go elsewhere."

The closures are expected to save $2.5 million annually said the first year savings have not yet been reviewed.

The district did end up with about $5 million in reserves at the end of the last fiscal year, for a total of $26 million in unrestricted reserves, said Spencer. But budget predictions for a half-billion dollar system are "incredibly complex."

"It's changing all the time as more information becomes available," Spencer said.

Operating estimates have to be done by February for the following year, before it's known how much funding will come from the state, grants and other funding sources. That leads to varying cost estimates and budget predictions, she said.

"I have a lot of confidence in processes and procedures ... but there's always room for improvement," said Spencer. "There has to be in a system of this size."

Before his interest in the district became full blown, Jackins worked as a programmer/analyst for Boeing. He now builds computer programs from home, which allows better flexibility to follow the school district.

Jackins is often asked why he doesn't run for School Board to try and change the course of the district if he feels it's so flawed. But that means he couldn't spend as much time on the other side of the podium, taking notes and listening for inconsistencies.

"They are all talented people on the School Board and top administration," he said. "My question is how is it being used and on what policies."

Rebekah Schilperoort may be reached at 783.1244 or rebekahs@robinsonnews.com